CONFIRMING what Filipino author and political analyst Walden Bello, Ph.D. wrote in his recent published article titled, “It’s downhill from here for Rodrigo Duterte,” the Philippine president and his allies organized themselves into a movement aimed at countering the opposition which appears to be widening and growing daily.

(The Bello article in Rappler.com made 78% of its readers “Happy.”)

Mr. Duterte’s new group placed together both illegal organizations like NPA and Maute, and legitimate political opposition, including CIA and other international human rights groups under one bundle and categorized them as “enemies of the state!”

At the same time, after calling the U.S. a lousy country which he will never visit again, and after cursing former President Barack Obama as son of a bitch, as well as after befriending China and Russia, known adversaries of the United States in international political arena, President Duterte is now making friendly overtures to the Americans.

Maybe, the PH president is scared that the U.S. might do to him what they did to Marcos.

In fact, the message that his secretary of foreign affairs conveyed to Washington was “fostering closer ties between the Philippines and the U.S.”

What happened?

Why the slide?

In his article, Dr. Bello, who teaches sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, explained in the following paragraphs the causes of the growing opposition to Duterte in the native country:

“...a record 81 people were slain by police in 4 days in mid-August was immediately followed by the even more shocking news in the days to come that teenagers Kian delos Santos, Reynaldo de Guzman and Carl Angelo Arnaiz had been abducted and killed, with Kian’s abduction by the Caloocan police captured on CCTV. Shock turned into anger, and among Duterte supporters, enthusiasm into disorientation, as evident in the sharp drop in their Facebook posts defending the regime.

“Then came the scandal of the P6.4-billion shipment of shabu tied to Duterte’s son, Paolo, about which the President was eerily quiet, followed by Duterte’s allies in Congress giving the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) a P1,000-budget for 2018, and, most recently, by Duterte’s vengeful threat to investigate the Ombudsman’s office in retaliation for its decision to investigate his family’s finances.

“Instead of awing the citizenry as before, these events exposed a sense of entitlement, of being above the law, and a conviction that one could get away with anything. Suddenly, nobody but the most fanatical followers would clap at the President’s drama queen antics, like his recent challenge to Supreme Court Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to resign along with him.”

We compiled some of the many comments by citizens in Facebook about recent events in Manila:

• npaulp

He (Duterte) admits to falsifying the bank account numbers to trick Trillanes into doing something dishonest?

That is a totally screwed up logic from the mind of a compulsive liar.

He should be automatically impeached for libel and falsifying documents.

This is really unbelievable.

Wow.

• elmervalenzuela

This, ladies and gentlemen of the Philippines, is your president.

• Miss Outspoken

LOL to the Nth level.

sana di na lang sya nagbigay ng account number.

umacting na lang sana ng pamysterious just like what they are doing right now re Paolo’s tattoo and their bank account.

dUH!

• Jorge De Ramos

How can I trust a president with that kind of skewed logic?

Making up bank numbers to prove that Trillanes is lying!

This is giving me the creeps with the fact that he holds a lot of power.

***

President Duterte may be barking at the wrong tree as he warns the more vocal critics of his administration of planning to oust him and that he would send them to jail.

The unpleasant part is that even if Mr. Duterte is eager to declare martial law as he has repeatedly said in recent past, his political enemies, including the Communist Party of the Philippines, evidently, won’t give him the excuse to do so, which is actual rebellion or sedition.

There is not even the imminence thereof.

Besides, it was reported that the military organization in the PH is not in favor of martial law.

He should beware of the Filipino people, the vast silent majority who will never allow abuses again.

They say never to martial law again.

President Duterte may well pay attention to the following lines by famous American poet Carl Sandburg:

“In the darkness with a great bundle of grief the people march.

In the night, and overhead a shovel of stars for keeps, the people march.”

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